Georgi Shopov, Vasil Tsanov
Papers of BAS, Humanities and Social Sciences
Vol. 2, No 1-2, 2015
ECONOMICS
TERRITORIAL DISPARITIES IN LIVING STANDARD OF THE POPULATION IN BULGARIA – SITUATION AND EVOLUTION (2007-2012)
Georgi Shopov, Vasil Tsanov
Abstract: The paper presents the territorial disparities between the six NUTS 2 regions and between the 28 districts in Bulgaria in terms of the living standard. The living standard includes the following dimensions: income and expenditure; inequality in income and social inclusion; education; social services; health care system and migration. For the purpose of empirical analysis, a specific methodology based on the Bennett’s method is developed and applied. The study concludes that: (i) the territorial disparities in the living standard of the population show an increasing trend in both for the regions and for the districts; (ii) the ranking of the regions and the districts based on the scores of analysed indicators shows significant changes] (iii) the territorial disparities by thematic fields show different development trend.
Key words: living standard, territorial disparities; households’ incomes and expenditures; inequality in income and social inclusion; education; social services; health care system